By IANS,
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday attacked the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee (OC) for bringing disrepute to the country due to poor preparations.
“From (OC chairman Suresh) Kalmadi to the Delhi government to the central government whoever is responsible, we will seek accountability,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
He said the OC and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) assured the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, which had cleared the bid for the Games, that all preparations for the event will be completed by 2008 and Indian athletes will get two years to practise at the venues.
He said there was a change of government in 2004 and the UPA government had to ensure preparations for the Games.
“The UPA government and the OC have both failed. They have betrayed the players. They have brought disrepute to the country. They have played with the completion schedules. We will raise all the relevant issues inside and outside parliament after the Games are over,” he said.
The BJP spokesman said “new records had been established in corruption” and added that the party will also seek to know if the Rs.650 crore kept for training of Indian players had been spent on them.
“Nothing has been done to promote the spirit of sports. We are looking at the insult being heaped on the country,” he said, adding that the government and the OC were passing the buck and not taking the responsibility for delays.
He said the party will work towards getting the guilty punished.
The slow preparations for the Games and poor state of the Games village led to critical comments in the international media. Some foreign teams delayed their arrival due to poor conditions in the residential quarters.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in to ensure that all agencies finished the pending works expeditiously.